Push notifications are simple messages sent out from apps that are installed on a device. When received on a device, these notifications wake up the handset and alert the user with a message displayed on the home or lock screen. Push notifications are widely used on all mobile devices to share updated information or events while the user is not actively using the application.

On Android devices, when a device receives a push notification, the sender application's icon and a message appear in the status bar. When the user taps the notification, he lands on the application. Notifications can be broadcast to all users (example for branding campaigns) or can also be sent to just a sub-set of users, to share personalized information.

- Android allows for notifications to be displayed on lock screen- App decides whether to display or hide

Message queuing for offline devices

Stores only one unsent, more recent message

- Can store 99 messages- Updates based on collapse keys

Two way messaging support

No

Yes using XMPP

Receiving messages from Multiple senders

No

Yes

Dellivery reply

you have to query the feedback server to pinpoint invalid device tokens

always replies with information whether or not the delivery is successful

incoming messages

discards the queued message and tries to deliver the latest

tries to deliver all incoming messages

Push Update

any notification is a separate entity

can update previous notifications

Behaviour

once an iOS user unlocks their screen, a push notification moves straight to the notification tray, resulting in an out of sight, out of mind conundrum for brands

messages stick around longer in the lock screen, which requires users to acknowledge the notification in one way or another

Message Expiry

Apple didnt reveal.

It can be user set value with time-to-live parameter [0-4 weeks max]

Localization

Yes using loc-key,loc-args

Not directly but we can use same iOS approach

Opting in for push notifications

iOS apps require a user to grant permission for an app to send them push notifications, while Android and Fire OS do not. Convincing users to opt-in is important for the success of apps on iOS.

The majority of iOS apps show a standard iOS alert when the app is first opened. A better approach is to show the value of opting in — for example, with a customized welcome series upon first open — then let the user opt-in later. Median opt-in rates for iOS range from 58% for charity apps to 33% for games.

High performing apps across all industry verticals (those in the 90th percentile) have opt-in rates above 50%. Travel, business and charity app opt-in rates lead verticals with rates greater than 70%

How do users see it? (ios/android/windows)

The Notification Center can be accessed by swiping downward from the top edge of your iPhone or iPad, and then swiping left. Any apps allowed to push notifications to your device will be displayed here. If you want to clear a group of notifications, tap the “X” in the upper-right corner.

Where as in android you can access them by swiping downward from the top edge of device. All notification will stay in the tray untill you swipe them or take an action.

2003: Blackberry Push Email - Back then, if you had to read your emails while on a train, you needed a Blackberry. RIM was the first OS to use Push Notifications for their email app. Later, the usage of Push expanded to free texting between Blackberry devices.

Rich media push notification iPhone and Android

Now It is possible to embed product images for top of mind recall and better engagement. It can be done by integrating with your app’s product feed.

Send price drop alerts or availability based triggers based on the user’s interest.

Learn more about push notifications

What is personalized push notifications?

2009: Apple launched Apple Push Notification Service (APN) It was the first push service.

2010: Google released its own service, Google Cloud to Device Messaging (C2DM).

2012: Google Cloud Messaging (GCM)

2013: Android 4.2 ICS released with Rich Push

Rich notifications contain images, as well as action buttons. Action buttons let users take immediate action from a notification. For example, the user can play a song, open the app, or see more information.

Use behavioral data and user interests to trigger personalized multi-product Push. They are usually clickable, scrollable and when clicked take the user to the relevant product view within your app.

To start sending Push Notifications from your app, you will need to set up a server first. This server sends a notification to Apple's Push Notification Service (APNS) or GCM (Google Cloud Messaging), which then sends the notification to the user's device.

How does the server know which device to send it to? When the user opens your app, you have code in place to register their device with your server. It's a best practice to re-register with the server each time the app is opened to prevent any issues when the user gets a new device and restores it from a back-up of their old one.

The user can turn off Push Notifications on a per-app basis in the Settings app. If they turn off Notifications in your app, or if they uninstall your app, Apple provides a Feedback service which you query to find out who to stop sending Notifications to.

Technologically-wise, the notification delivery is performed through a Push Notification Service which is specific for each platform: APNS for Apple, GCM for Android, MPNS for Windows Phone app, WNS for Windows Store apps, etc.
However, the algorithms for different Push Notification Service are similar and are based on the following sequence of actions:

Does push notifications use data?

Apps that use push notifications (such as instant messaging or social media apps) will use cellular data.